The last maintenance at the unit was in February, for around a month, the company source said.

Asahi Glass has a 200,000 dry metric tonne (dmt)/year caustic soda facility at the same site. This unit supplies the chlorine, a by-product of caustic soda, to the chloromethanes plant.

Asia is currently oversupplied with methylene chloride, with many Chinese producers operating at half rates because of weak demand, market sources said.

Most methylene chloride producers, however, are keen to hike offers to correct a market which had gone down below production costs, they said.

Spot prices for the month of July were assessed at $490-520/tonne (€372-395/tonne) FOB (free on board) China and at $520-600/tonne CIF (cost, insurance and freight) SE (southeast) Asia, up by $20-40/tonne from June, according to ICIS.